THE COST of school meals for secondary school age pupils in Merthyr Tydfil will increase next year.
The council’s cabinet on Wednesday, March 5, agreed an increase of 10p to £2.80 for secondary schools and to £2.40 for secondary-age pupils at Greenfield Special School from the start of the summer term.
The cabinet report said that to reflect increases to food and other service costs, an increase was required to help set a balanced budget for 2025-26.
The price increase in secondary schools will also be applied to individually priced items, which will increase by 3.7% rounded to the nearest 5p, so for example pasta pots currently at £1.60 would increase to £1.65.
Of the other 19 local authorities across Wales responding to the school meals prices survey, 10 have proposals to increase prices across their secondary schools for 2025-26 and two said schools set their own prices.
With these proposed price increases, the report said Merthyr Tydfil Council’s price for a secondary school meal would be the joint 13th highest of local authorities responding to the survey.
It is proposed to apply this increase from April 28, when the summer term starts.
The cabinet report said the price of school meals was most recently increased in April, 2019, when prices were set at £2.30 in primary schools and Greenfield Special school (all pupils) and £2.70 in secondary schools.
Prices of school meals have been frozen since April, 2019, due to the impact of the post pandemic period, with reduced demand for school meals and lower take-up, alongside the cost-of-living crisis.
During this period universal free school meals in primary schools has been rolled out on a phased basis from September, 2022, and was rolled out across all primary ages by February, 2024.
Grant income from this rise has helped to cover the overall cost of the service ensuring a balanced budget, the report said.
